Societal Complexity and Familial Complexity: Evidence for the Curvilinear Hypothesis

Blumberg, Rae Lesser; Winch, Robert F.

doi:10.1086/225230

Cited by 87 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…Extended kinship ties weaken, lineage patterns dissolve, and a trend toward some form of the conjugal system generally begins to appear-that is, the nuclear family becomes a more independent kinship unit. (Goode 1963: 6) Most of the literature on this issue during the past four decades assumes that intergenerational coresidence is common in traditional agricultural societies and diminishes with industrialization, migration, and economic expansion (e.g., Burch 1967;Blumberg and Winch 1972;Cowgill 1986;Martin 1989;De Vos 1990;Mason 1992;McDonald 1993;Aykan and Wolf 2000;Bongaarts and Zimmer 2002). Not all of these authors see themselves as followers of the tradition that runs from Le Play to Goode.…”

Section: Nih-pa Author Manuscriptmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intergenerational Coresidence in Developing Countries

Ruggles

Heggeness²

2008

Population & Development Rev

123

132

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A sizable literature suggests that coresidence of elderly persons with their children is on the decline in most developing countries. These studies draw on a long tradition of theories that postulate an inverse association between household complexity and economic development. Our analysis of this topic uses new data and measures to assess changes in intergenerational coresidence in 15 developing countries.We have three main objectives. First, we measure trends in intergenerational coresidence in developing countries from the perspective of both the younger generation and the older generation. Second, we assess trends in intergenerational coresidence by household headship patterns. Finally, we conduct multivariate analyses to control for changes in population composition and to assess the relationship between intergenerational coresidence and economic development.The results indicate no clear trends in intergenerational coresidence over the past several decades. Some countries experienced modest increases in coresidence; other countries had modest declines. Even more intriguing, when we focus on intergenerational families headed by the older generation-the family configuration most closely associated with traditional stem-family and joint-family systems-we find significant increases in all but two of the countries examined. This suggests that traditional family forms are stable or increasing across much of the developing world. Moreover, multivariate analyses reveal that key measures of economic development are positively associated with intergenerational families headed by the older generation. Theories of coresidence and developmentIn the second half of the nineteenth century, Frédéric Le Play proposed that economic development was contributing to a decline of intergenerational coresidence. Traditionally, Le Play argued, generations had been bound together by property. The younger generation remained in the ancestral home, providing labor as the family patriarch grew old and eventually inheriting the farm. With commercial and industrial growth in the nineteenth century, fewer families had property to hand down. As a consequence, Le Play contended, more and more of the elderly began to reside separately from their children (Le Play 1884: 3-28).The idea that economic development is associated with simplification of the household and independent residence of the elderly became widely accepted in the twentieth century. Midtwentieth-century sociological literature highlighted the connection between industrialization and nuclear-family structure (e.g., Parsons 1949;Nimkoff 1962). Intergenerational coresidence was said to be undermined by growing wage labor opportunities, which provided incentives for the younger generation to leave the farm and move to urban areas. Moreover, many theorists argued that small nuclear families were best adapted to urban societies characterized by high geographic and social mobility (Wirth 1938;Parsons and Bales 1955;Burgess 1960). NIH Public Access Author ManuscriptPopul Dev Rev. Autho...

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Section: Nih-pa Author Manuscriptmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intergenerational Coresidence in Developing Countries

Ruggles

Heggeness²

2008

Population & Development Rev

123

132

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“…My explanatory model is based upon and extends the theories and insights of Blumberg (1978Blumberg ( , 1984, Chafetz (1984), Huber (1988Huber ( , 1990, and Collins (1975;Collins, Chafetz, Blumberg, Coltrane, and Turner, 1993).…”

Section: Childhood and Explanations Of Gender Inequalitymentioning

confidence: 96%

“…For example, Blumberg (1978) notes the importance of environment, whether lush or scarce, and level of technology for gender stratification (see also Chafetz, 1984 andHuber, 1990). Research on the Eskimos (Freeman, 1971;Riches, 1974) is quick to point out the importance of environment; the Eskimos' level of technology, a virtual total reliance on male hunting with little or no female contribution, combines with the harsh environment to produce what has been characterized as an extremely male dominant culture.…”

Section: Ecological Explanationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gender inequality in childhood: Toward a life course perspective

Baunach

2001

Gend. Issues

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Gender inequality does not begin with adulthood, yet scholarship has dealt most appreciably with indicators summarizing patterns for adults. Life course differences need to be recognized and incorporated into the study of gender inequality. I propose various societal practices (such as female infanticide, harsher punishment, social ceremonies, and inclusion) and beliefs (such as son preference, affection, and evaluation) as cross-cultural indicators of gender inequality in childhood. The analysis of preindustrial societies in the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample (Murdock and White, 1969) finds that childhood gender inequality is related to hunger, warfare, patrilocality, and the economic contribution and control of women. Childhood gender inequality shares some similarities with adulthood gender inequality but differs in theoretically relevant ways; for example, familial explanations, which are often relegated to secondary status in gender inequality theory, are highlighted. The implications of focusing on childhood and the life course for gender inequality theory are discussed. Residence

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“…Engel"s notion is, however, corroborated by the subsequent cross-culture researches (e.g. Osmond, 1965;Blumberg and Winch, 1972;Martin and Voorhies, 1979;Hartung, 1982;Alvard, 1986;etc. ) viewed polygyny as a reproductive strategy (known as, r-strategy) by which men maximize the number of their offspring but minimize investment in each child, which obviously suggests that polygyny has more reproductive benefits for men than for women.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%